Emotions and Coping Strategies of Men to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Brazil

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the emotions and coping strategies of men living in Brazil to the Covid-19 pandemic. Method: a qualitative socio-historical study, carried out with 200 men residing in Brazil. A semi-structured form was applied, made available on an online platform between March and May 2020. The data were analyzed by the Collective Subject Discourse method and sustained in the theoretical reference of Coping. Results: the strategies most used by the men were the following: compliance with preventive measures, strengthening of family/social ties, promotion of psychological well-being, self-care, emotional suppression, externalization of negative feelings, emotional control, positive reassessment, intellectual investment/professional qualification, maintenance of daily routines, adaptation to home office work, physical activity, control of marital conflicts, acceptance, and strengthening of belief and faith. Conclusion: the coping strategies adopted by the men are focused on following a pandemic coping protocol, and on the meaning and channeling of emotion and sense.

COVID-19 pandemic decrease men’s mental health: background and consequence analysis

“…There was an intensification of this difficulty of access, especially to mental health services. Some individuals use online care, which are not available to the entire population, requiring government attention regarding the provision of psychosocial care services in the country, such as the implementation of impact actions during and after the pandemic period 4,5,8 .…”

“…8 Mental disorders, such as depression, decrease man's ability to work and may even imply partial or definitive absence from work, resulting in increased poverty and rehabilitation costs for the Unified Health System and Social Security. Poverty, in turn, can hinder or prevent the individual from performing comprehensive treatment 4,5,8 .…”

“…These results imply the need to implement coping strategies. A study published in Brazil draws attention to the execution of individual strategies aimed at the care of special groups, as well as government ones focused on reducing the impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health 5 .…”

“…The participants were invited by social networks (Facebook®, Instagram® and WhatsApp®), following a method consolidated by other studies in the literature with this public 4,5,9 . For this, the snowball technique was applied as an exploratory apprehension strategy of theoretical chain sampling 13 .…”

“…Men and women are equally prone to SARS-CoV-2 infection; however, a pattern of predominance of mortality for males has been identified in several countries, and repeated in Brazil, although the reasons for this occurrence are not yet fully explained 3 . Added to this context, there is a significant gap in scientific production directed to male health that presents an analysis that goes beyond the dimension of morbidity and mortality and involves the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and practices adopted by men in the health-disease context, as occurs in pandemic moments 4,5 . Thus, it also reinforces the fact that the relational aspects of gender and masculinities and men's mental health reserve sterotypes and stigmas to be overcome, which confers greater support and justification for the development of this study.…”